Please note, I am only covering corporate projects here, if you are a public servant and you want to start your own blog, then these may apply, but the advice is intended for government public affairs staff working on their agency projects.

There are 10 principles to consider:

1. Sovereignty: do not use an (external) hosted solution, eg blogger. If this is an agency initiative, then you should host the site in the .govt.nz namespace. I would recommend WordPress, as a powerful, extensible and semantic publishing platform. It is also open source, so it is free and easy to deploy, meaning there is no significant cost to the taxpayer to set up.
2. Access: the site must be Government Web Standards compliant. If it is funded by the taxpayer, then it should be accessible to all New Zealanders. This is another good reason for choosing WordPress as your solution.
3. Transparency: make it very clear who is posting (do not claim that your CE is writing the posts if they are being ghostwritten by you and your team), and how to contact them, online and off. This is one instance where you are not an anonymous public servant. Similarly, (and I know I don’t need to tell you this) no flogs, astroturf or sockpuppets.
4. Trust: do not disclaim the content on the blog/wiki/podcast etc. If you are engaging your publics through these media they should be able to expect a straightforward exchange of ideas and information. If your Legal team intend on vetting every post, the venture is doomed.
5. Fairness: social media is about reciprocity, if you are going to engage and invite comment then accept the good with the bad. Post a very clear comments policy and stick to it. Don’t delete comments because they are critical of your agency or policies.
6. Timeliness: post regularly and be prepared to engage people when it suits them. This may mean checking comments or making edits after work hours and on weekends — be prepared to make that effort.
7. Openness: share content that is an honest reflection of your thinking and position. Don’t set up a social media channel to broadcast your risk-averse, legal-approved and comprehensively qa’ed copy. Remember, this is about engaging people, not boring them into apathy…
8. Ethics: respect what you can legitimately say about your agency/project in public. No matter how small you think your audience, once you hit the ‘publish’ button your content is in the public domain. Make sure you don’t surprise your Minister this way…
9. Participation: don’t just focus on your site and expect your publics to find, engage and maintain a conversation. Get out among similarly oriented communities and participate there. Post comments, email other bloggers and recognize that your site is only part of the solution.
10. Integrity: at all times measure your actions against the Code of Conduct. If you think that you are close to the line with a post, or a comment, check with someone who has some distance from the issue — or hold off posting for overnight. Once it is published, there is no taking it back.

Of course, none of this should come as a surprise. In most cases we are just talking about common sense and sound judgement. It is probably not an exhaustive list either, so if you have suggestions, please add them in the comments.

If you are still feeling your way around the new media, trying to determine how much is hype and how much will have a significant impact on the way you do your job, then I would recommend that you listen to this podcast. Cameron Reilly, the founder of The Podcast Network, interviews Paull Young, an Aussie blogger, podcaster and PR professional.

During the course of a long (and OK, at times, rambling) conversation, both Paull and Cameron make a number of very astute observations about the impact of podcasting and blogging on public affairs. What they have to say about the changing nature of corporate communications, and the different approaches required to adapt to these changes, is just as applicable to the public sector as it is to the private.

In fact, given the incredible proliferation of these media, and the increasing amount of traffic in the channels, I think that you can only ignore (at the least) monitoring them at your peril. The immediacy and rapidity with which an issue can arise and achieve a critical mass of comment and profile within the blogosphere – and as Paull points out, once it is out there it is with your Google rank forever – means that if you adopt a traditional approach and wait for it to hit the MSM, then it is too late: the damage has been done and, at least in terms of Google, it is pretty much irrevocable.

So, for those of us toiling away in the public sector, it is not so much a case of rush out and start a blog, or convince your chief executive that she needs a podcast, rather I think that it is critical that we first a) understand these media, and b) monitor them and -where necessary- participate in the conversation. Once you have cleared it with Legal, of course…

Podcasting?

For information on podcasting, start with Podcast Expert. If you just want to figure out how to play the link to the podcast above, the info halfway down this page should see you right.